The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped their series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, falling 7-3 to lose two out of three games at Citizens Bank Park.
Walker Buehler made his first start since the All-Star break and did not have his best outing, lasting just 4.2 innings while giving up five hits and five runs, with five strikeouts and one walk.
The last couple months have not been normal for Buehler, who dealt with a microfracture in his ribs and has since bounced back and forth between the Dodgers roster and Minor Leagues. He’s made rehab starts, Major League relief appearances and thrown simulated games over that time.
Buehler commented on the constant shuffling back and forth, conceding it’s not how he would have liked things to go, but still putting responsibility on himself to pitch better regardless of the circumstances, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“I wouldn’t have scripted it that way if I was making the master plan,” Buehler said of his circuitous season. “I’m not the first guy to go through it, not the last. I’ve got to pitch better when I’m here. In the fifth inning, I can’t let it spiral like that.”
In what is just his second full season coming off Tommy John surgery, the plan all along was to limit Buehler’s innings this year, so that has certainly played a factor in how the Dodgers have handled him to this point.
Now that he is healthy though, Buehler is expected to remain with the Major League club for the foreseeable future and should play a big part in a potential postseason run for Los Angeles.
The Dodgers currently have a six-man rotation, so someone will eventually have to go to the bullpen, barring any injuries. Given his struggles as a reliever in the past, Buehler likely would not be the one to make that move.
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